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FRANZ 

STUDIES  OF 
FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 
THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 
LOS  ANGELES 


STUDIES  OF  FEEBLE-MINDEDNESS 


BY  SHEPHERD  IVORY  FRANZ 


REVIEWS   AND   ABSTRACTS    OF   LITERATURE 

Studies  of  Feeble-Mindedness? 

The  study  of  the  mentally  defective  classes  is  of  interest  and  impor- 
tance to  both  physicians  and  psychologists.  Unfortunately,  however, 
psychologists  have  concerned  themselves  almost  wholly  with  the  investi- 
gation of  the  mental  processes  of  normal  people,  and  have  not  considered 
the  subject  of  abnormal  psychology.  Physicians,  on  the  other  hand,  are 
interested  in  abnormal  psychology,  but  largely,  and  almost  exclusively,  in 
those  mental  processes  which  are  of  importance  for  diagnosis,  and  those 

1  Under  this  title  there  have  been  included  the  following  articles  on  idiots, 
imbeciles,  enfants  arrierte,  enfants  faibles  d'esprit,  and  on  enfants  anormawo 
and  abnormal  children  when  it  was  evident  that  the  term  '  abnormal '  was  used 
synonymously,  or  nearly  so,  with  '  feeble-minded ' : 

1.  'Les   enfants  anormaux   a   Bruxelles.'      DEMOOB  ET   DANIEL.      Annee 
psychologique,  1900,  VII.,  296-313. 

2.  'Experiences    de    copie:    essai    d'application    a    1'examen    des    enfants 
arrieres.'     SIMON.     Ibid.,  pp.  490-518. 

3.  '  L'interpr6tation    des    sensations    tactiles    chez    les    enfants    arrier6s.' 
SIMON.     Ibid.,  pp.  537-558. 

4.  'Eine  experimentelle  Studie  iiber  die  Association  in  einem  Falle  von 
Idiotie.'     A.  WBESCHNEB.     Allg.  Zeitsch.  f.  Psychiatric,  1900,  LVIL,  241-339. 
(Complete  account  of  association  experiments.      Prolix  but  good  in  giving 
material  for  comparison.) 

5.  'Taste  and  Reaction  Time  of  the  Feeble-Minded.'      A.  R.  T.  WYUE. 
Journal  of  Psycho-Asthenics,  1900,  IV.,  109-112. 

6.  '  Study  of  the  Senses  of  the  Feeble-Minded.'     A.  R.  T.  WTLIE.     Ibid., 
pp.  137-150. 

7.  'Memory  of  the  Feeble-Minded.'      A.  R.  T.  WYIJE.      Ibid.,  1900,  V., 
16-24. 

8.  'Motor  Ability  and  Control  of  the  Feeble-Minded.'      A.  R.  T.  WYUE. 
Ibid.,  pp.  52-58. 

9.  "L'illusion  de  poids  chez  les  anormaux  et  le  '  Signe  de  Demoor.'"     E. 
CLAPABEDE.     Arch,  de  PsychoL,  1903,  II.,  22-32. 

10.  'La  mesure  de  1'attention  chez  les  enfants  faibles  d'esprit   (phrenas- 
theniques).'     F.  CONSONI.     Ibid.,  pp.  209-252.      (Good  material  but  not  suffi- 
cient work  on  normal  children  for  comparison.      Esthesiometric  results  not 
checked  by  other  methods. ) 

11.  '  Notes  sur  la  psychologic  des  enfants  arriere's.'     T.  JONCKHEEBE.     Ibid., 
pp.  253-268. 

12.  '  Psychophysical  Tests  of  Normal  and  Abnormal  Children.'   R.  L.  KEULT. 
Psychol.  Review,  1903,  X.,  345-372.       (Incomplete  and  evidently  hasty  work. 
Not  sufficient  account  of  methods  for  purposes  of  confirmation.      Subjects  not 
described.) 

13.  'Experimental  Studies  in  Mental  Deficiency:  Three  cases  of  Imbecility 
(Mongolian)  and  six  cases  of  Feeble-mindedness.'    F.  KUHLMANN.    Amer.  Jour, 
of  Psychol.,  1904,  XV.,  391-146.     (Excellent  article.    Material  well  digested. 
Good  bibliography. ) 

14.  15.  '  Ueber  die  Assoziationen  von  Imbezillen  und  Idioten.'    K.  WEHBLIN. 
Jour.  f.  Psychol.  u.  Neurol.,  1904,  IV.,  120-123,  129-143.      (Confirmation  and 
extension  of  Wreschner's  work.     Many  cases.) 


12489 


296  THE   JOURNAL   OF   PHILOSOPHY 

which  help  in  making  prognoses.  What  information  we  have,  therefore, 
is  meager  in  amount  and,  perhaps,  as  is  sometimes  said,  superficial. 
Many  interesting  mental  phenomena  are  noted  and  explained  in  an  off- 
hand way,  and  many  have  not  been  noted,  because  they  are  thought  to 
be  of  little  diagnostic  or  prognostic  importance.  The  conditions  which 
have  been  studied  only  superficially  and  those  which  have  not  been  studied 
are  likely  to  throw  light  upon  similar  but  elusive  processes  in  normal 
people.  Much  valuable  information  could  be  obtained  from  a  study  not 
only  of  the  defects,  but  also  of  the  exaggerations  and  the  inconsistencies 
in  the  insane  and  feeble-minded. 

The  possible  difficulties  of  experimentation  upon  the  insane  and  the 
mentally  deficient  may  have  kept  some  psychologists  from  attempting 
investigations.  It  may  be  said,  however,  that  the  difficulties  have  been 
greatly  exaggerated,  and  such  difficulties  as  there  are  may  be  readily 
surmounted.  Opportunity  for  the  careful  and  systematic  study  of  pa- 
tients may  be  obtained  readily  at  many  hospitals.  Whatever  former 
disinclination  to  the  study  of  patients  by  'outsiders'  medical  men  may 
have  had  has  given  place  to  a  willingness  to  have  careful  experiments 
made  to  obtain  a  better  knowledge  of  the  psychical  conditions  in  the 
mentally  abnormal.  The  studies  which  are  reported  in  this  review  indi- 
cate clearly  that  it  is  considered  necessary  to  have  general  observations, 
such  as  are  given  by  Sollier,8  analyzed,  supplemented  and  verified  by  a 
careful  study  of  cases  by  experimental  methods. 

The  feeble-minded  have  been  classified  according  to  many  different 
criteria — speech,  moral  and  intellectual  capacity  and  dullness,  extent  of 
mental  faculties  and  attention — and  the  names  designating  the  conditions 
have  widely  differed.  Dagonet  makes  four  classes:  (1)  Simple-minded, 
(2)  imbecility,  (3)  idiocy,  (4)  automatism.  \  Voisin  has  used  the  term 
'  mental  debility '  in  about  the  same  sense  as  Dagonet's  '  simple-minded.' 
Sollier,  who  bases  his  classification  upon  the  process  of  attention,  divides 
the  feeble-minded  into  three  classes  only:  "  (1)  Absolute  idiocy,  a  com- 
plete absence  and  impossibility  of  attention;  (2)  simple  idiocy,  a  feeble- 
ness and  difficulty  of  attention ;  (3)  imbecility,  instability  of  attention."  * 
In  all  classes  Sollier  says  there  is  not  only  a  diminution  in  quantity,  but 
also  a  modification  in  quality  of  the  mental  faculties.  Moreover,  it  may 
be  added,  all  idiots  present  cerebral  lesions  and  are  thus  further  differen- 
tiated from  normal  people  and  imbeciles. 

1.  Sensation. — Several  authors  have  cited  the  disturbances  and  aber- 
rations of  sensation  as  the  cause  of  the  lack  of  mental  ability  in  some  of 
the  feeble-minded.  It  is  undoubtedly  true,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  that 
the  absence  or  alteration  of  sense  organs  prevents  the  associational  proc- 
esses ordinarily  concerned  with  these  spheres,  and  to  that  extent  there 
is  a  defect  of  the  mental  life.  Blindness  or  deafness  or  the  lack  of  other 
senses,  or  a  combination  of  two  or  more  defects  in  one  person,  does  not 
necessarily  produce  an  incapacity  for  the  associations  in  other  sensory 
motor  paths.  Sensory  defects  may  contribute  to,  but  they  are  probably 

* '  Psychologic  de  1'idiot  et  de  1'imbecile,'  2d  edit.,  Paris,  1901. 
*  Op.  cit.,  p.  17. 


PSYCHOLOGY  AND   SCIENTIFIC   METHODS        297 

not  the  greatest  and  certainly  not  the  only  factors  in,  the  production  of 
mental  weakness. 

Most  idiots,  Schleich  found,  are  hypermetropic,  while  in  normal  chil- 
dren there  is  a  tendency  to  myopia..  Wylie  (6)4  found  in  the  children 
examined  by  him  a  visual  dullness  six  to  eight  times  the  normal,  and 
Kelly  (12)  in  the  pupils  of  the  Physiological  School  (who  are  not  de- 
scribed, but  who  are  probably  imbeciles),  found  poor  vision.  One  half 
were  below  the  standard  of  keenness,  and  there  was  astigmatism  in  all 
but  one  or  two.  On  the  other  hand,  Sollier  makes  the  general  statement 
that  '  in  imbeciles  hearing  as  well  as  sight  presents  nothing  abnormal.' 
Schleich  has  defined  the  abnormality  in  the  feeble-minded,  but  from  the 
articles  by  Wylie  and  by  Kelly  it  is  impossible  to  tell  what  the  differences 
are. 

Owing  to  the  incomplete  color  vocabulary  of  many  idiots  and  imbeciles 
it  is  difficult  to  make  determinations  of  the  color  sense.  Jonckheere  (11) 
and  Kelly  (12)  agree  that  often  color  vision  is  defective.  Kelly  reports 
six  out  of  twelve  children  with  some  kind  of  color  blindness  and  one  with 
total  color  blindness.  Only  two  of  Kelly's  cases  had  an  accurate  color 
vocabulary,  and  the  same  deficiency  has  been  noted  by  Jonckheere. 
Furthermore,  Jonckheere  states  that  in  these  cases  it  is  very  difficult  to 
develop  the  sense  (terminology). 

Only  two  cases  in  the  Physiological  School  were  found  to  have  normal 
hearing  (12),  but  in  other  places  nothing  abnormal  has  been  found  (6 
and  Sollier,  see  above). 

Taste  and  smell  are  very  often  dulled  or  perverted  in  the  feeble- 
minded. The  general  statement  is  made  that  simple  idiots  are  voracious 
and  gluttonous,  land  that  imbeciles  are  nearly  all  gourmands.  Idiots  will 
carry  to  their  mouths  anything  which  comes  to  hand — just  as  very  many 
normal  children  do — but,  in  addition,  some  will  eat  salt  as  if  it  were  sugar. 
Stones,  earth,  sticks,  bugs  and  even  excrement  are  swallowed  by  those  in 
whom  taste  is  lacking  or  perverted.  Of  66  children  examined  by  solu- 
tions of  quinine,  acid  and  salt,  23  could  not  tell  any  difference,  16  re- 
sponded to  the  bitter,  40  to  acid  and  22  to  salt.  Twenty  of  the  brightest 
children  averaged  for  threshold — sugar,  1.3  per  cent,  solution;  salt  0.48 
per  cent.;  acid,  0.41  per  cent.;  quinine,  0.0177  per  cent.  (5). 

The  pain  threshold  is  higher  than  in  normal  children  (6  and  12),  tem- 
perature threshold  higher  (12),  touch  dulled  (6)  and  the  double  point 
threshold  of  touch  increased  (3  and  12),  while  the  muscle  sense  is  Tin- 
usually  bad  (6  and  11).  Wylie  (6)  found  a  dullness  of  the  muscle  sense 
varying  according  to  the  general  mental  ability,  and  because  of  its  im- 
portance in  the  education  of  the  feeble-minded  efforts  are  now  being  made 
towards  a  thorough  training  in  this  field. 

Demoor  (1)  has  found  and  Claparede  (9)  has  confirmed  a  reversal  of 
an  ordinary  weight  illusion  in  cases  of  idiotism.  When  two  masses  of 
unequal  size,  but  of  equal  weights,  are  lifted,  the  smaller  is  judged  the 
heavier.  This  illusion  is  found  in  children  from  the  age  of  six  or  seven 
and  is  constant  throughout  life  in  normal  people,  but  in  lower  grades  of 

4  These  numbers  refer  to  the  numbers  of  the  articles  quoted  in  note  1. 


298  THE   JOURNAL   OF   PHILOSOPHY 

idiotism  a  reverse  judgment  is  given  constantly  in  some  cases,  and  in 
others  the  illusion  is  absent.  The  reverse  illusion — called  the  '  sign  of 
Demoor' — is  found  in  those  cases  which  are  incapable  of  education,  and 
it  has  been  suggested  as  a  means  of  diagnosis  of  idiotism  in  its  worst 
form.  Claparede  concludes  from  his  study  that  "the  presence  of  the 
weight  illusion  does  not  mean  that  the  feeble-minded  are  of  a  teachable 
type,  but  the  'sign  of  Demoor/  when  present,  speaks  strongly  in  favor 
of  idiotism." 

2.  Motor  Ability  and  Fatigue. — Motor  training  is  the  kind  of  educa- 
tion to  which  most  of  the  feeble-minded  readily  respond,  and  upon  which 
depends  much  of  their  other  teaching.  If  the  movements  are  rapid  and 
accurate  and  under  fair  degree  of  control  much  may  be  hoped  for  in  any 
attempt  to  improve  their  condition.  Considerable  attention  has  been 
devoted,  therefore,  to  the  study  of  motor  ability,  particularly  in  relation 
to  school  work  in  the  hospitals. 

Strength  and  steadiness  (8),  accuracy  and  rapidity  of  movement  (12 
and  13)  are  all  less  than  in  normal  children,  and  the  threshold  of  move- 
ment is  larger  (12).  Experiments  similar  to  those  made  by  Fullerton 
and  Cattell5  on  the  accuracy  of  perception  of  the  extent  of  movement  in 
34  children  of  the  Minnesota  School  showed  no  appreciable  deviation 
from  the  normal  (although  the  author  concludes  that  there  is  an  error 
of  2  to  10  times  the  normal)  (7).'  All  the  experimenters  found  a  very 

Wylie  F.  and  C. 

100  mm.                          H-    8  +  11.8 

300  mm.                          —    1  +2.8 

500  mm.                          —  17  +    4.3 

700  mm.  —   4.8 

It  must  be  remembered  that  W.'s  results  are  obtained  from  children,  and 
that  perhaps  the  500  mm.  experiments  would  give  effects  similar  to  those  found 
by  F.  and  C.  for  700  mm. 

slow  rate  of  tapping  and  arm  movement  (8, 12  and  13).  Kuhlmann  (13) 
obtained  results  of  practice  in  accuracy, — throwing  at  a  target, — but  the 
curve  is  not  regular,  and  showed  a  decrease  in  ability  so  that  occasionally 
it  dropped  to  a  point  below  which  it  had  started.  This  is  undoubtedly 
due,  as  the  author  points  out,  to  decreasing  interest ;  but  when  the  interest 
is  again  aroused,  as  was  done,  the  curve  rises  again. 

The  experiments  on  tapping — most  rapid  and  continued  movements — 
were  examined  for  evidence  of  fatigue.  Many  of  the  subjects  tapped  at 
a  very  slow  but  continued  speed  throughout  the  experiments,  and  it  was 
difficult,  sometimes  impossible,  to  make  them  tap  at  a  faster  rate.  The 
average  maximum  rate  is  very  slightly  above  the  normal  rate.  Some 
tapped  faster  at  first  and  gradually  decreased  in  rapidity,  but  neither 
Wylie  (7)  nor  Kuhlmann  (13)  believes  the  decrease  to  be  due  to  fatigue. 
Kelly  attributes  the  result  to  a  rapid  fatigue,  but  disregards  certain  re- 
sults. Of  the  children  examined  by  him  three  showed  an  increase  in 

* '  Perception  of  Small  Differences.' 

6  The  errors  from  Wylie's  series  and  those  obtained  by  Fullerton  and  Cattell 
(p.  48)  are  as  follows. 


PSYCHOLOGY  AND   SCIENTIFIC   METHODS        299 

tapping  with  the  finger  from  the  first  to  the  last  parts  of  the  experiment, 
and  four  showed  corresponding  increases  in  rapidity  with  arm  movements 
(12).  The  results  would  not  lead  one  to  believe  that '  fatigue  with  back- 
ward children,  as  would  be  expected  from  their  low  vitality,  is  very  rapid 
and  considerable'  (Kelly,  12),  but  rather  that  'the  lowering  of  interest 
and  attention  does  not  permit  deduction  regarding  fatigue  (Kuhlmann, 
13). 

3.  Attention. — Most  authorities  agree  that  the  lack  of  attention  is  the 
most  common  defect  in  the  feeble-minded  and  the  greatest  hindrance  to 
their  education.     If  the  attention  can  be  sufficiently  aroused  and  trained 
it  is  probable  that  other  deficiencies  will  give  place  to  a  more  normal 
condition.     Since  this  matter  is  considered  of  such  importance  we  shduld 
expect  much  time  given  it  in  the  experimental  determination  of  the  con- 
dition in  imbeciles  and  idiots,  but,  unfortunately,  few  of  the  experimental 
studies  consider  the  subject. 

The  results  of  the  experiments  upon  motor  ability  and  fatigue  re- 
ported above  give  some  indication  of  the  extent  of  the  attention.  Kuhl- 
mann (13)  compared  the  maximal  and  the  normal  rate  of  tapping,  and 
found  an  average  increase  of  only  l£  taps  per  second  when  the  attention 
was  directed  to  make  movements  as  rapidly  as  possible.  (One  subject 
showed  a  decrease  in  rate,  and  another  gave  practically  the  same  results 
in  both  sets  of  experiments.)  The  maximum  rate  is  much  slower  than  in 
normal  children.  When  the  subjects  were  told  to  tap  in  time  with  the 
beat  of  a  metronome,  the  accuracy  was  much  greater  during  the  first  half 
minute  than  at  any  later  time.  It  seems  evident,  therefore,  that  the 
attention  was  kept  up  for  about  30  seconds.  The  esthesiometric  tests  of 
Consoni  (10)  show,  in  a  uniformity  of  the  double-point  threshold,  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  attention  to  stimuli  of  one  kind,  but  when  distracting 
influences  were  brought  in — lights,  counting  blows  on  the  other  hand, 
counting  the  beats  of  a  metronome,  odors,  tasting  solutions,  etc. — the 
threshold  was  much  greater  and  much  more  varied  than  in  normal  chil- 
dren. The  alterations  in  attention  were  found  more  prominent  in  the 
phrenasthenics  of  the  most  marked  type.  Consoni  appears  to  agree  with 
Sollier7  in  his  conclusion:  the  degree  of  general  capacity  of  attention  is 
in  direct  relation  to  the  power  of  inhibition,  and  the  examination  of  the 
attention  furnishes  a  precise  means  for  the  estimation  of  the  degree  of 
mental  weakness. 

4.  Reaction  Times. — Twenty-two  children  gave  an  average  of  .388  sec. 
(M.  V.,  .08)  for  touch  reaction,  21  experiments  each;  and  sixteen  children, 
for  sound,  averaged  .293  sec.  (M.  V.,  .085),  24  experiments  each.     Eight 
Mongolian  type  averaged  .396  sec.  for  touch  (M.  V.,  .095),  and  .360  sec. 
for  sound  (M.  V.,  .113)  (5).     The  individual  averages  and  variations  are 
not  recorded,  and  it  is  impossible  to  tell  how  much  variation  there  is  in 
the  group,  and  how  large  the  individual  variation  is.     Wylie  concludes, 
however,  from  the  experiments  that  *  long  reaction  times  and  high  mean 
variations  seem  to  be  characteristic'  of  the  feeble-minded. 

In  his  experiments  on  association  Wehrlin  noted  the  time  for  giving  the 

7  Op.  cit. 


300  THE   JOURNAL   OF   PHILOSOPHY 

associations  in  one  high-grade  idiot  and  four  imbeciles.  One  subject  was 
found  to  give  reactions  as  rapidly  as  normal  people,  but  the  other  four 
were  very  slow.  The  average  time  in  seconds  for  the  associations  to  con- 
crete words  was  found  to  be  3.4  sec.,  normal  subjects  1.8  sec.;  to  abstract 
words,  3.7  and  1.9  sec.,  respectively;  to  adjectives,  3.5  sec.  and  1.9  sec.; 
and  to  verbs,  3.3  sec.  and  2.2  sec.  (14  and  15).  Wreschner  has  in  one 
subject  the  times  of  about  1,000  association  reactions,  but  these  have  not 
been  calculated  in  a  manner  that  makes  them  available  (4).  The  average 
time  in  his  experiments  is  about  3  seconds.  The  naming  of  ten  object 
pictures,  the  distributing  cards  of  different  kinds,  etc.,  were  used  to  de- 
termine the  time  for  discrimination,  association  and  movement  in  the 
subjects  examined  by  Kuhlmann  (13).  For  naming  a  picture  and  dis- 
tributing a  picture  card  Kuhlmann  found  an  average  time  of  1.48  and 
1.46  sec.,  respectively.  For  distributing  colored  cards,  1.67  sec.,  and  for 
form  cards  1.93  sec.  The  general  average  for  the  discrimination,  asso- 
ciation and  movement  for  one  card  is  1.64  sec.  In  addition,  the  author 
made  separate  tests  of  discrimination  time  with  dominoes,  in  which 
experiments  the  time  was  very  long.  No  direct  comparison  is  given  for 
normal  children. 

5.  Association  and  Memory. — As  was  to  be  expected,  the  associations 
of  idiots  and  imbeciles  are  simple  and  not  very  varied.  Wreschner  (4) 
used  as  stimulus  words,  (a)  adjectives  descriptive  of  light  and  color,  form 
and  direction,  movement,  touch,  temperature,  hearing,  smell,  taste,  pain 
and  general  sensations,  and  esthetic  feelings;  (b)  nouns — parts  of  the 
body,  objects  in  a  room,  in  a  house,  in  a  city,  in  the  earth,  botanical  words, 
names  of  animals,  members  of  a  family,  and  occupations;  (c)  abstract 
words — with  cheerful  and  sorrowful  idea  content,  descriptions  of  feelings, 
will,  understanding  and  consciousness,  legal  conditions  and  interjections. 
These  words  were  used  as  stimuli  ten  times  each.  The  associated  words 
which  were  given  are  noted  in  detail  and  the  time  in  seconds  for  each 
association.  These  are  grouped,  classified  and  analyzed  in  detail.  One 
is  struck  with  the  persistence  of  certain  associations  throughout  the  series 
of  ten,  and  with  the  fact  that  there  are  so  many  purely  sound  associations. 
He  finds  that  the  relative  number  of  sound  associations  for  adjectives  is 
1 :  3.8 ;  for  concrete  words,  1 :  0.7,  and  for  abstract  words,  1 :0.4.  The  con- 
tent associations  take  a  longer  time  than  the  sound  association,  and  this 
is  particularly  noticeable  if  the  sound  and  content  associations  for  the 
same  stimulus  words  are  considered.  Only  one  case  was  tested  by 
Wreschner,  viz.,  an  idiot.  Wehrlin  experimented  on  13  idiots  and  im- 
beciles— average  age,  40 — with  58  to  290  experiments  each.  The  simple 
character  of  the  '  associations '  is  evidenced  by  the  following  list  of  kinds 
of  associations  which  were  given  (14  and  15). 

1.  Tendency  to  definition :  e.  g.,  '  year ' — '  12  months.' 

2.  Tautology :  e.  g.,  '  run'  — '  a  man  runs  ' ;  '  hair ' — '  beautiful  hair.' 

3.  Generalization :  e.  g.,  '  bread ' — '  eatable.' 

4.  Time,  origin,  use,  etc.,  characterization :  e.  g., '  book ' — '  for  reading.' 

5.  General  functions :  e.  g., '  wood ' — '  it  burns ' ;  '  bird ' — '  it  flies.' 

6.  Examples  and  reminiscences :  e.  g.,  ( sick ' — '  I  was  sick ' ;  '  father  ' 
— '  he  threw  me  down  stairs  once.' 


PSYCHOLOGY  AND   SCIENTIFIC   METHODS        301 

•A 

Probably  in  no  other  single  aspect  of  mental  activity  of  the  feeble- 
minded are  there  so  varied  differences  as  in  memory.  Many  are  unable 
to  remember  the  simplest  words,  while  others  have  remarkable  memories 
for  special  things,  e.  g.t  calculation,  playing  musical  instruments,  etc. 
Jonckheere  (11)  reports  two  cases  of  remarkable  memory.  An  imbecile 
boy  examined  by  him  could  recognize  and  name  in  French  or  German  the 
disks  for  a  music  box  with  which  he  played,  although  he  could  not  read. 
In  this  case  there  was  a  memory  of  the  arrangement  of  holes  in  the  disk, 
or  probably  of  the  design  of  the  inscription.  Another  feeble-minded  boy, 
who  entered  the  school  at  the  age  of  9£  with  only  a  German  vocabulary, 
learned  in  3£  years  French  and  the  Flemish  patois  and  can  recite  in 
Dutch.  Many  of  the  children  of  the  Vaucluse  School  have  been  found 
to  compare  favorably  with  normal  children  in  their  memory  for  numbers 
and  words  (copying  50  figures  and  two  sentences) ;  but  idiots  and  im- 
beciles do  poorly  in  all  three  tests  (2). 

Four  numerals  can  be  immediately  repeated  by  many  feeble-minded, 
and  some  can  give  five  or  six  (12).  Wylie  tested  the  visual  memory  by 
having  children  pick  out  5  cards  (containing  colors,  letters  or  forms) 
previously  shown  to  them,  from  a  number,  with  the  following  average 
results:  form,  2.4  cards  recognized;  color,  2.4;  letters,  2.6  (7).  Similar 
results  were  obtained  by  Kuhlmann  (13).  The  auditory  memory  was 
tested  by  repetition  of  six  associated  words,  repetition  of  groups  of  sen- 
tences, and  selection  of  five  nonsense  syllables,  with  the  following  results : 
average  number  of  words  given  correctly,  3.8;  words  in  sentences,  11; 
nonsense  syllables,  2.1. 

6.  Miscellaneous  Observations. — All  authors  agree  that  the  notions  of 
time  and  space  are  very  difficult  to  teach  the  feeble-minded  (Sollier, 
Demoor  and  Daniel,  and  Jonckheere).  Time  is  much  more  difficult  than 
space,  and  past  time  much  harder  than  future  (11). 

Like  other  mentally  underdeveloped  people,  bright  colors  are  most 
often  preferred.  Music  with  its  rhythm  has  a  wonderfully  dynamogenic 
effect,  and  in  some  schools  it  is  being  used,  with  excellent  results,  in 
classes  for  gymnastics  and  motor  training. 

SHEPHERD  IVORY  FRANZ. 

MCLEAN  HOSPITAL  FOR  THE  INSANE, 
WAVEBLEY,  MASS. 


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